I've been looking at you for a long, long time
by jaseywantsthiseasy
Summary: "Charlotte realized what was going to happen a moment too late; Henry burned half of his shirt (and most of his arm, bloody hell), and at the same time a big burn mark appeared on Charlotte, on the same spot as Henry. While the young man was screaming "helphelpitburnsLottiehelpme", she was staring at her arm like it was not her own." Soulmate!AU.


**Title** : I've been looking at you for a long, long time

 **Summary** : Charlotte realized what was going to happen a moment too late; Henry burned half of his shirt (and most of his arm, bloody hell), and at the same time a big burn mark appeared on Charlotte, on the same spot as Henry. While the young man was screaming "helphelpitburnsLottiehelpme", she was staring at her arm like it was not her own. Then she realized that that was not a great time to have an epic realization, and that her soulmate (oh sweet baby Jesus) was literally on fire.

or

the soulmates!AU where people get bruises on their body when their soulmate gets hurt, and Charlotte is very stressed about it.

 **Author** : jaseywantsthiseasy

 **Warnings** : Modern AU, College AU, No powers, Mild Swearing, these dorks are bad at feelings

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own The Infernal devices.

 _ **A/N**_ _:_ FINALLY I'VE FINISHED THIS MONSTER OF FANFICTION. I've been working on this one for forever now, and finally I. AM. FREE. This is my longest fanfiction EVER, I swear. Prompt based on a old tumblr post where a user suggested that soulmates could be identified by the bruises caused by each other appearing on their skin, without causing any pain.I've been thinking about writing a Henry\Charlotte for years by now, and finally I've made it. I've tried to make it less personal, but..ahem..I think I have failed there *nervous laughter*- But other than that, enjoy it! Please, if you liked it, leave some love! P.s. if you know me personally, you damn well know the person to whom this story is dedicated (and, if YOU are reading it, sorry for making it cheesy af, but I really miss you and I needed something fluffy- love youuuu) Title is from Bonfire Heart by James Blunt.

* * *

 _...just trying to break through, trying to make you mine_

"I cannot deal with this anymore. I swear by the Angel, I really can't!"

Sophie muffled a giggle. Charlotte glared at her; she looked again at her arm, the reddish burn on her fair skin. Obviously, it did not hurt at all, but it was a sign that her soulmate hurt themselves. Again. For the sixth time in one week. She should have felt at least worried (what if he or she was being abused by someone? What if they were captured by bad people?), but by now, after 4 years of burns, scratches, bruises in general, she was pretty much used to it. It was a little annoying when it was summer, and she looked like she just fought with fire and three feral cats. And, it was annoying, like in this case, when she had an important meeting and made the stupid decision of wearing a sleeveless dress. Great job, Lottie, really, she thought. Well, she did not exactly plan to look like she just went into a fire; blame her soulmate for that.

"Well, at least, it is sure that your soulmate is alive and kicking", said Sophie, helping her friend, covering the marks with some foundation. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, given the size of the bruises" replied Charlotte, blowing on her arms to dry the foundation faster. After being basically painted up by her friend, Charlotte finally was able to leave her shared apartment, and she started to walk towards the student government building. This year, she was elected (not surprisingly since she was the only one to actually give a shit there) as the president of the student government, and thus meeting would have been the first one since she had taken office.

She straightened up her dress, trying to regain some composure. She was not so pleased with what her apparent soulmate was doing, but what could she do at the moment? She didn't even know this person at all: no idea of the gender (which did not concerned Charlotte at all since she would have not minded to have also a woman by her side), or what he or she was doing in their life. Would they accept Charlotte for what she was? Plain, small, too-serious Lottie? Would she be enough?

Of course, she had expectations, as well. Secretly, she always fantasized about her soulmate; even if it was very unlikely that she'd known them before the marking, Charlotte loved the idea of being with someone who was her friend before anything more. When she was just a little girl, Charlotte and Henry Branwell, her childhood best friend, would secretly talk about how they were supposed to be soulmates just because they were the best of friends. However, things change, and people do, as well. She pursued her dreams, studying hard, and obtaining her rightful spot at Idris University, getting a degree in Politics. Henry, even though he was at the same university, was pursuing a degree in Engineering, which had an entire building on the farther part of the campus (probably due to the enormous rate of "incidents" that the students had while experimenting). In short, they went to the same university, but rarely saw each other (much to the dismay of both).

However, it was not the time to dwell on these things. Charlotte gathered her papers (even if she loved to be organized, she could be pretty messy) while Sophie, her roommate, was retouching her own make-up.

Sophie Collins was the strongest girl Charlotte ever knew. When she was still in high school, she used to live with friends of her family since her parents died suddenly in a car crash; saying that the family was mean to her did not even cover. Especially the son, Teddy, a five star asshole, who tried to get into her pants since she began to live with them, treated her with no respect whatsoever; he showed his worst part when, the 10th time Sophie turned him down, he cut her face with a kitchen knife to "teach her a lesson". No wonder it took her a lot of years (and a lot of encouragement from Charlotte to go see a specialist that could help her through the trauma) to trust another man, especially when her soulmate marks started to show up. Thankfully, it turned out to be Gideon Lightwood, a seemingly snobbish boy, who at the first meeting with Sophie could not stop stammering and blushing. He ended up tripping on his own feet, landing on his knee, getting him and Sophie a brand new bruise (and getting them to get their shit together, Charlotte thought).

"So, are we ready, President Fairchild?", Sophie asked, smirking at the title everyone seemed to call Lottie with. Charlotte rolled her eyes but nodded. She still was not used to being called like that.

After a brief check that everything was in her bag, Charlotte and Sophie finally managed to get out of their shared apartment. Out of the building, there was Gideon Lightwood, leaning against the wall, trying somewhat to appear suave. Charlotte first instinct was to scream at him because it was unbecoming for a member of the student government to appear so careless, but seeing her best friend's reaction to the young man made her swallow her reprimands. She had also no time for that, and she certainly did not want to hear "Yes, Mom" from a Lightwood again in the rest of her bloody life. It was certainly creepy the first time, Charlotte did not want to repeat the experience, for sure. The fact that she actually saw these people grow was aggravating the whole ordeal, to say the least. Even though she was just three years older than the Lightwoods and Sophie herself, Charlotte has always been seen as the mother-hen of the little group, even when she was just a little girl herself. The only one who has always seen her as an equal, maybe because of the same age, was Henry. Henry Branwell, who was always in her train of thought, somewhat. Henry Branwell, who was appearing in her viewing range, and obviously running up to them. With arms bared and covered with a weird green slime. Charlotte started to sweat. This could not be good. She could also hear Gideon Lightwood chuckle behind her, and before she could glare at him, he started to whisper to Sophie, conspicuously.

"Charlotte!" he yelled at her, waving enthusiastically. Charlotte slightly mourned at the use of her actual name, instead of the affectionate childhood nickname.

"I swear, I had a revelation last night, and I could not wait to show you how wicked that is!", he said, finally catching up with them. He wore his toothiest grin, the one that showed his dimples off. Charlotte tried to not be distracted by that. She failed. "Henry, I actually have to go to a meeting with the student government right now, so if we could postpone this–"

"This will take just a minute, I swear!" he said, and then he got a lighter out of his pocket. Oh no.

Charlotte realized what was going to happen a moment too late; Henry immediately burned half of his shirt (and most of his arm, bloody hell), and at the same time a big burn mark appeared on Charlotte, on the same spot as Henry. While the young man was screaming "helphelpitburnsLottiehelpme", she was staring at her arm like it was not her own. Then she realized that that was not a great time to have an epic realization, and that her soulmate(oh sweet baby Jesus) was literally on fire. "Oh-oh my god, yes, I'll call the ambulance, DON'T TOUCH YOUR ARM, YOU BLOODY IDIOT", and while she was trying to stop her childhood friend/ soulmate to pat the remaining flames with his bare hand (thus causing other non-necessary marks to Charlotte), the young woman repeated to herself a litany of "ohmygodohmygodohmygod" . Could it be? Could it be that her gut had always been right about Henry, her goofy childhood best friend? Did he know? Did he notice that she was covered in bruises in the exact same places where he lit on fire? THAT was not the time to dwell on the consequences of this, Charlotte reprimanded herself internally. Thankfully, the help came in the form of Sophie with a bucket of frozen water, drenching the couple, and putting an end to the flames that were almost eating Henry's flesh. And because there is no God, Sophie was staring at Charlotte's arm, visually blanching. Great. Fantastic. Bloody incredible.

* * *

Turns out that Henry did not need to go to the hospital at all since it was just some minor burning, and he was keen on not going anywhere where he had to explain how he got those burn marks. Meeting forgotten, Charlotte sat with him in the infirmary of the University while the nurse finished patching him up.

"I cannot believe how irresponsible you can be, Henry Jocelyn Branwell-" "Please, please don't bring out my full name for this, Lottie–" "Don't interrupt me when I am so bloody furious at you!", Charlotte hissed, making her friend (could she still call him like that?) flinch. She glared at him for a second while he kept his gaze down, evidently embarrassed by the whole ordeal. Even if he was goofy and reckless all the time, Charlotte knew that he always kicked himself when he felt like a burden on her, something that had been happening since they were children. So she took a deep breathe, trying to take the bite out of her voice.

"I-I'm just", she started, "I'm just asking you to be more careful, stop trying to be unreasonable with me"

Henry nodded, playing a little with the unburnt hem of his shirt. The nurse packed her first aid kit up before noticing Charlotte's arm. "Oh dear, do you need some ice? Did you burn yourself as well?", she asked. Oh, bloody bloodiest hell.

Henry's head snapped in her direction so fast that she was worried that he could get a stiff neck for the rest of the week. She averted his gaze like the plague because pride was not very important in that moment. Especially because the nurse was still there, looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

Without looking at anything in particular, Charlotte finally found her voice. "No, I'm fine. The bruises are there because we're soul-bound, I'm okay", she said, with a strangled voice. The nurse nodded, and without any other question (probably because she could feel the very tense air between the students) she left the room. Leaving them alone. For the first time. Charlotte felt a little faint.

It was actually Henry the first one to speak, just after one minute that the nurse left.

"Since when did you know about this?", he asked, still looking at her. Charlotte tried to swallow the huge knot in her throat before answering.

"When you got yourself on fire", she answered, finally turning her head to look at him. If she had to face rejection, she would have to be brave and accept it. Henry slowly nodded, silently. There was another beat before any of them spoke again.

"Are you," he started, averting his gaze for the first time, "are you that disappointed in finding out that it's me?" Charlotte startled, surprised.

"Never! I would never be disappointed because you're my soulmate, Henry!", she said with a loud voice, verging on panicking. How could he think that? How could he? "I could ask you the same question! You look so incredibly sad about this!", Charlotte retorted, with a high voice. Later, she would feel embarrassed on how she lost her temper like that.

And for the first time in her life, Henry glared at her. Actually glared at her.

"You can doubt my intelligence, you can doubt my self-preserving skills, but how could you ever question my love for you, Lottie? I've never hid it, never cared to hide it!" he exclaimed, his voice matching his fiery hair. Charlotte could just gape at him. That did not make sense in her mind, at all. Her own insecurities started to gnaw at her, vicious as ever, but Henry's hand tightly holding hers seemed to bust her little dark bubble.

"Henry," she started again, determined on making this right, "it's always been you. There was never anyone else for me, in my mind. I've always loved you, but I-I just thought that you were not interested or that you thought of me as a sister, and I was scared that being bound to me was going to bother you so much that you were going to hate m-" and she was cut off by Henry's lips on hers. She then could understand what Sophie meant when she said that it seemed like the world was new in a way that she never imagined. She realized she was also crying a little, out of joy or relief, she could not say (even though, she would deny this happening later on).

When they finally parted, Henry put a hand on her cheek, looking at his soulmate (how beautiful was that word?). "Really,", he said, "You love me, too, Lottie?"

Charlotte grinned, nodding slightly before hugging abruptly and causing a whole lot of pain for the poor redhead, who endured bravely (cringing just a bit). The arm could wait. Bloody hell, the whole world could wait.

For the first time, being just them was more than enough.


End file.
